††††††††††† Even though
I went to Montreal in late April to
ride the MR-63 subway trains before they retired, STM announced that the trains
would make their last runs from June 18 through June 21 on each of the four Metro
Lines.† They would run their last miles
in revenue service on the Blue line; the only line I have previously not ridden
the MR-63s in the past.

††††††††††† As luck
would have it, I had most of the week off from Home Depot. After much thought,
I decided to return and get my final rides on the MR-63s. I would miss riding
the MR-63s on the Yellow line on June 18th; but would be in Montreal
for the days they last run on the Green, Orange,
and Blue lines. I would ride VIA Train #62 to Montreal
and stay until the day after the MR-63 era ended and then take Train #65 home.
The trip unfolded as follows.

June 19, 2018:

††††††††††† I took the
subway down to Union. I got there around 8:30. I saw that VIA had once again changed the
departure of train #97 to New York.
It now leaves at 8:55 am. This change
must be recent as it left at 8:20
back on my last trip.

††††††††††† I joined
the line for train #62. Boarding began shortly after 9:00 am. I was seated in LRC coach #3357 which was wrapped
for VIAís 40th Anniversary. My coach was also the second from the
locomotive. In the past when Iíve ridden this train to Montreal,
I was in the last coach. I logged into VIAís Wi-Fi. The train left on time.

††††††††††† As we
passed TTCís Greenwood subway yard,
I filmed it. The Wi-Fi stopped working less than 10 minutes after leaving Toronto.
My ticket was taken. I told the conductor the Wi-Fi wasnít working. East of
Rouge Hill, the train slowed down. A Westbound VIA train passed, but I was
unable to film it. However, we soon began picking up speed at the west side of Pickering.
We stopped in Oshawa a few minutes
later.

††††††††††† East of
Oshawa, the Wi-Fi FINALLY started working again. As we passed through Port
Hope, another Westbound VIA passed, but I was unable to film it. We stopped in
Cobourg a few minutes later.

††††††††††† As we passed
the MemoryJunctionMuseum, I filmed it. I then walked
two coaches back and photographed the locomotive on train #52 which was once
again running combined with train #62.

††††††††††† I then
returned to my coach seat. As we passed through the Belleville
station non-stop, another VIA train passed, but I was unable to film it. East
of Belleville, the Wi-Fi stopped working again! However, a little while, it
started working again. We soon stopped in Kingston.
As we departed Kingston, I filmed
VIA train #45 as it pulled in. The Wi-Fi stopped working AGAIN!

††††††††††† VIA train
#63 passed, but I was unable to film it. I bought some chips from the person
serving snacks when they came by.

††††††††††† West of
Brockville, we stopped to separate trains 62 and 52. However, they stopped west
of the location where the split has happened in the past. I made my way to the
last car and photographed the split and filmed the locomotive of train #52 as
we pulled away.

We then passed through Brockville
non-stop.

††††††††††† The Wi-Fi started
working again. VIA train #65 passed, but I was unable to film it.

††††††††††† As we
approached Cornwall, the Wi-Fi once again stopped working. We stopped at
Cornwall a minute later. We were soon underway.

††††††††††† The Wi-Fi
started working again. We crossed into Quebec. We stopped at Dorval a few
minutes later. We departed Dorval.

††††††††††† A little
while later, we were approaching Montrealís Central Station. I readied my stuff
in preparation to get off.

This is from my previous trip, but I took a similar photo, but lost it.

††††††††††† I saw the
equipment that would be train #67 to Toronto. I then went upstairs and then to
Bonadventure Metro station. I bought a three-day pass on the Opus card I bought
on my last trip. I thought that three days of unlimited travel on STM plus a
single ride on Friday was cheaper than a weekly pass.

††††††††††† I boarded
an Azur and rode to Barri-UQAM and got off. I filmed the train pulling away. I
then boarded an eastbound train on the Green Line and rode five stops to
Jolliette.

††††††††††† I then
walked to where I was staying. I had booked a place on Airbnb.com. I decided I
would give them another chance. I got to the apartment I was staying and went
inside. I dropped off my stuff and phoned home. I went online and found the
last MR-63 was leaving Honore-Beaugard at 3:00 so I would miss its first
westbound trip. I decided I would try to catch it on its return trip. I headed
out to the Metro and boarded a westbound train on the Green Line. I rode to
Lasalle station and got off. I went over to the other side. I waited for a few
trains to pass. They were mostly MR-73s but one was an Azur. After about 4-6
trains passed, the MR-63 pulled in. I filmed it pulling in and boarded the
front car.

††††††††††† The train
was being led by car #81-501; the very first MR-63. The MR-63s (and MR-73) run
in three car sets (or elements as STM refers them as).

††††††††††† The
interior of the cars had replicas of ads from the 1960s when the Metro first
opened. I attempted to photograph them.

This was my only pic I got of the ads that I still had at the end of
the trip.

††††††††††† There were
a couple transit fans riding the train as well. I chatted with them.

††††††††††† The MR-63s
were built by Canadian Vickers; a company more designed towards making ships
rather than trains. As a result, the horn (which I would hear multiple times
the next three days) sounded like a shipís horn!

††††††††††† When we got
to Honore-Beaugard, we got off the train. The train pulled into the tail track
to head out on the opposite platform. When the train pulled into the station, I
filmed it pulling in.

††††††††††† I boarded
the 7th car of the train which was car #81-502. This car is
significant as it is going to be donated to Exporail after retirement. Even
though it wasnít the first car build for the Montreal Metro, it was the first
car delivered. There were many press photos taken on board the car when it was
first delivered. This would be the equivalent of Gloucester #5001 being put on
static display instead of #5000; the TTCís first subway car.

††††††††††† However,
the TTC is doing something similar with its retiring CLRV streetcars. CLRV
#4002 which was the first CLRV to be delivered to TTC in late 1977 is slated
for preservation either by being kept by TTC as a historic car along with the
two PCCs and Witt or donated to the Halton County Radial Railway Museum. The
first CLRV built for Toronto; #4000 was sadly scrapped in late 2017.

††††††††††† I rode in
#81-502 two stops and made my way to the front of the train. When I boarded
going eastbound, the train had the first MR-63 element, the 3rd
element and the 16th element. This was the last active train of
MR-63s.

††††††††††† I rode the
train to the Monk station; the second last stop on the Green Line. I filmed the
train pulling out. As it pulled out, the driver blew the horn.

††††††††††† I went up
to the street. I was hoping to ride one of STMís electric buses. STM has a trio
of 100% electric Nova LFS buses that are charged at a couple of charging
stations. As a result, they are confined to one route; #36 Monk. I was hoping
to ride one.

††††††††††† I went to
the street and waited. However, I soon learned that the #36 isnít frequent. I
had also missed a bus going in either direction. However, I wasnít beat yet.

††††††††††† I then went
back onto the subway and rode one stop west to Angrignon where the route #36
terminates. I went upstairs to the bus bay. As luck would have it, one of STMís
electric buses was charging at the station! I photographed it.

††††††††††† I waited to
see if it would go into service. The next departure of the route #36 was a regular
diesel LFS. I stayed being hoping the Electric bus would go out next. While
waiting, I bought a chocolate bar and a Pepsi from a store in the station.

††††††††††† As it
turned out, the electric bus was the next departure for the route #36. I saw
that the pantograph that the bus was using to connect to the charging station
retracted upwards into the charging station instead of downwards to the bus.
The bus pulled up to the route #36 bay. I got on and sat at the back.

††††††††††† Unsurprisingly
after we left, the ride was quiet. The TTC looked into buying similar buses
from Nova Bus but decided against it. They did demo other electric buses from
three other manufacturers including New Flyer. I have also heard that YRT is
looking to buy some electric Nova LFS buses as well.

††††††††††† I rode to
Monk station and got off. I photographed the bus and filmed it pulling away.

††††††††††† I then went
back onto the Metro and rode a few stations hoping the MR-63 train would be out
still. However, it didnít show up and I eventually rode a train to Lionel-Groulx.

††††††††††† I went
downstairs with the intent to ride to Namur on the Orange line, but I saw a
westbound Azur pull in on the Green Line so I went back upstairs. I rode a
train of MR-73s to Atwater station and waited for a few westbound trains hoping
again that I would see the MR-63 but such was not the case. I rode back to
Lionel-Groulx and took an Orange line train to Namur. I photographed the train
and filmed it pulling out.

††††††††††† I went back
to the restaurant shaped like the giant orange and bought dinner. I also bought
a jug of their sweet orange juice.

This was taken on my previous trip.

††††††††††† After
dinner, I walked to the Wal-Mart that was nearby. I bought a box of cereal for
the next few days. After buying the cereal, I stopped by the Toys-R-Us nearby.
It was closed, but it only closed for the night; unlike their American
locations. I saw a sign that proclaimed they would still remain open in Canada.

††††††††††† I then
headed back to where I was staying and bought some milk. I worked on this report
for a little while before I called it a night.

June 20, 2018:

††††††††††† I got up
and had breakfast. I got dressed and headed out. I would do a little fanning
before I would try to ride the MR-63s on the Orange Line later in the day. I
went online and read about the MR-63ís morning run on the Orange Line.

††††††††††† I walked to
the Metro and rode to Lionel-Groulx. It was weird riding the Green Line knowing
there wasnít a MR-63 running on the line as that was their mainstay.

††††††††††† I got off
and rode to Cote-Vertu; the Northwestern terminal of the Orange Line. I looked
in the tail track to see if the MR-63 train was there, but it wasnít. I rode
the train I had come in on to the Snowden station. I transferred to the Blue
Line and rode to the Parc station. I then went to the nearby EXO (formerly AMT)
commuter station.

††††††††††† I bought a
round trip ticket to Saint-Jerome and rode there on a train consisting of six
of AMTís newest bilevel coaches pushed by an ex GO Transit F59PH.
Unfortunately, the zipper on my money belt broke so I couldnít close it.

††††††††††† I rode to
Saint Jerome and then got back on the train and returned into Montreal. I got
off a few stops earlier because there was a mall nearby. I was looking for a
new money belt I could use in the meantime. I filmed the train pulling out.

Unfortunately, this is the only shot I have of the commuter train.

††††††††††† I looked
around the mall until I eventually found a store that had a money belt that
suited me. It cost $10 plus tax, but I figured it would hold out until I could
get my regular money belt repaired or replaced. I then bought lunch and caught
a 22-000 series Nova LFS bus back to Jarry Metro station.

††††††††††† By now, it
was after 3:00 pm so I knew the MR-63 train was already on the line. I wasnít
exactly sure where it was. I decided to try to head it off like what I did
yesterday.

††††††††††† I first
rode to Mont Royal and waited for the MR-63s there. After several trains, I
decided to attempt to ride to Champ-De-Mars station which is one stop south of
Barri-UQAM stations which as a transfer station of three lines; (coincidentally
the three where I had previously ridden at least one MR-63 train in the past)
meet.

††††††††††† At Champ-De-Mars, I got off the
train. I hadnít seen the MR-63 pass so I figured I was still good.

††††††††††† The first northbound train to arrive
after I got to the platform was an Azur. At one point, the lights went out.
However, the power was soon restored and the train left. A few minutes later,
the MR-63 train arrived. I filmed the train pulling in.

††††††††††† I boarded the front car which was #81-501
again. I rode to Montmorency. I got off and went to the platform for Cote-Vertu
bound trains. I boarded the train and made my way to the front car by getting
off at one stop and moving to the car ahead until I was in the front car.

††††††††††† Today was only the second time I
ever rode a MR-63 on the Orange line. The last time was in 2007 when I was in
Montreal the night before I first rode the dome on the Adirondack.

††††††††††† I rode to Cote-Vertu and talked with
other transit fans on the train. When we stopped at Lionel-Groulx station, we
met a MR-73 train on the Green line. It was ironic because both trains were on
the opposite lines that they were assigned to as little as two months ago! The
MR-63 train was the only non Azur train on the line. Compare that to two months
ago there were still a few MR-73s on the Orange Line. I ended up riding back to
Montmorency at two more times before I filmed the train going out of service.

††††††††††† After I boarded an Azur train and rode
to Sauvť Metro station and transferred to the Route #121 bus and rode across to
Cote-Vertu. Sauvť is near a station on the commuter line Mark and I rode two
months ago.

††††††††††† The bus passed by a station on the
Duex-Montange commuter line. I saw a train of electric multiple unit cars on
the line. At Cote-Vertu, I got off and walked to a nearby Taco Bell for dinner.
In 2013, this Taco Bell had actually run out of chicken when I was there!
Fortunately, they had plenty when I had dinner.

††††††††††† After dinner, I decided to take a
ride on one of STMís new Hybrid Nova LFS buses. After riding a distance, I got
off and photographed the bus.

††††††††††† I then filmed the bus pulling away.
I saw I was near a mall, but didnít go in. I saw the mall had a Sears
department store which had closed down a few months before. From the outside,
it still looked open; at least somewhat. I photographed it.

††††††††††† I then caught a bus back to the
Metro. I then returned to where I was staying and attempted to move my photos
and videos to my laptop.

††††††††††† After awhile, I set the alarm on my
phone and called it a night.